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Austrians make autonomous quadcopter with smartphone

Aug

19

2013

Researchers at the Technical University in Vienna have a quadcopter built entirely with a smartphone can fly autonomously. The phone takes care of all the complex calculations, such as navigation and image processing.

The heart of the quadcopter from the Technische Universität Wien is a smartphone, which the camera is used to collect. Visual data The smartphone processed data, after which the necessary instructions to the quadcopter passed. This allows the helicopter with four rotors completely independent fly, navigate and bring an area map. Thanks to the exclusive use of visual data for navigation, the quadcopter also indoors without GPS signal, flying.

Although quadcopters in research, because of their stable flight characteristics, they are often linked to a remote computer which directs them. Often used The Viennese researchers developed however a smartphone app that allows a remote computer or human driver unnecessary. With the current incarnation of the quadcopter a coded floor and can be mapped to specific locations uav the fly.

A future version of the quadcopter should even without the visual codes on the floor can map a space. Optionally, a 3D sensor, such as Microsoft’s Kinect, help. The technique develop the Swiss could be in rescue operations in buildings, but also can be deployed guests around in a small building by quadcopters.